BARTLETT ROQUEMORE

The following bio was taken from page 374 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Claudia Schuster

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield

The first Roquemores in America were French Huguenot refugees. Our ancestor chose to bring his wife and family to America, departing from France, August 9, 1763.

One of the first Roquemores into Texas was Hiram Peter; his name appears on a bill of sale, November 22, 1848, in Panola County.

My grandfather, William Homer Roquemore, was born May 28, 1860. He married Nancy Eliza Wiggins in 1883 in Rusk County. They lived in Laneville. Their first son, Ransome Barltett, was born January 12, 1884. He married Annie Lue Allen, daughter of William Alonzo and Nora Pool Allen, on July 23, 1923. There were two other sons, Judson Hugh and Dick Hubbard, and one daughter, Ruth.

Ransome Bartlett and Annie Lue Roquemore had four children: Doris, born July 26, 1924; William, born September 4, 1929; Mollie Joe, born September 6, 1931; and Annie Ruth, born June 23, 1933. The last three children were born in a white frame house in the McKnight Community. The road in front of the house was known as the Telegraph Wire road. In about 1935, Bartlett built a store, which he owned and operated in what is now known as the Cross Roads. He was also a farmer and rancher, as he raised cattle, hogs, horses, chickens and goats. He had a saying when some didn’t pay his bill and started trading somewhere else, "If they can live with it, I can live without it."

Around 1953 or 1954, Bartlett moved his family back into the white frame house where the last three children were born, while he built a new home about one mile from his Cross Roads’ store.

Bartlett’s sister, Ruth Roquemore, married Professor Ed Layton, principal of the Eastland High School, where he was teaching at the time they met.

Dock Poston was Bartlett’s good friend. They went hunting and fishing together. Once while on a hunting trip (during the war), Bartlett killed a rattlesnake with a stick he had sharpened. The snake had nine rattles and several buttons. Also on this trip was one of Mother’s brothers, Robert Marcus Allen.

The Roquemores’ motto is "Harder than Rock;" their coat of arms is three silver chess rooks on an azure shield, arranged two over one.

Bartlett died on June 12, 1960, in Rusk County. Annie Lue, born April 30, 1901, died on November 24, 1972, in Rusk County.

Submitted by Annie Roquemore